Skip to main content

Home/ HGSET545/ Group items tagged digital textbooks

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Leslie Lieman

Apple and the Digital Textbook Counter-Revolution - 3 views

hackeducation.com/...he-textbook-counter-revolution

iPad iPads textbooks iBooks education technology

shared by Leslie Lieman on 28 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • Leslie Lieman on 28 Jan 12
     
    I am posting two articles: 1) Apple's recent announcement about getting into digital textbooks (article/link below) and 2) the criticism (this link) by Hack Education blogger Audrey Watters. Education needs to rethink the need for textbooks altogether. Digitizing them is not the answer. She states, "You can disassemble, reassemble, unbundle, disrupt, destroy the textbook. It is truly an irrelevant format."
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Emily Lovell on 30 Jan 12
     
    I thought it was interesting to read Watters's criticism of Apple's textbook plans, although I also thought it felt pretty one-sided. I do have reservations about how Apple is going about this (expecting everyone to own an iPad, requiring textbook authors to surrender rights, etc.) - but I don't think that the overall idea is so unbearable. Digitized textbooks offer many affordances compared to what we're stuck with currently (textbooks that are outdated, heavy, expensive, and limited by static content). Of course, theoretically we could do without textbooks, as Watters suggests in her criticism... but I'm not yet convinced of this in a practical, realistic sense. I suspect that the resources required to realize textbook-free classrooms are beyond what most schools and teachers have access to. (I also realize that iPads are not cheap! But if digitized textbooks were to become popular across a range of platforms, perhaps they would be more accessible to a broader demographic... and it's not as if physical textbooks are cheap either.)
  • Leslie Lieman on 30 Jan 12
     
    Hi Emily - thanks for your thoughts! Bloggers (especially those who use the name Hack in their title) are going to be provocative (one-sided) in their writing... but it helps raise questions about standard practices. I too agree that eTextbooks or iBooks are going to be tremendously more engaging and up-to-date than the ones that weigh down kids bookbags. But now take a look at the other article I posted: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/flow-digital-textbooks that suggests how publishers are not open to new and niche ideas that might be incredibly beneficial to education. The publishing market has a hold on education. Is it possible that the textbooks will not be available across a range of platforms, but only on a few that the publishers agree to work with? Maybe it is time we push for a more open source model... that could also work towards digitizing textbooks... or would innovate other ways for students to access "textbook"" knowledge.
  • Emily Lovell on 30 Jan 12
     
    Thanks for the nudge to read the other article that you posted as well! It was a nice counterpoint to Watters and the FLOW platform seems like a promising stab at digital textbooks from an open-source standpoint.
Tracy Tan

Irish schools make switch to ebooks; Textbooks go hi-tech as students learn on iPads an... - 0 views

Access to the site is by subscription, so I am including the article here: T'S a sad day for doodlers. The dog-eared textbook is on its final chapter in Ireland as schools switch to ebooks. More t...

ipads proliferation

started by Tracy Tan on 29 Feb 12 no follow-up yet
Jennifer Jocz

Textbook Firms Ink E-Deals For iPad - WSJ.com - 0 views

online.wsj.com/...3338504575041630390346178.html

iPad e-textbooks

shared by Jennifer Jocz on 04 Feb 10 - Cached
  • a recent Kaplan study showed that students remain big fans of printed books but that they would be more receptive to e-textbooks on portable digital devices.
  • he iPad's lower-than-expected entry-level price of $499 will interest schools, but some of them may not be able to purchase the device right away if they've already purchased netbooks.
  • Jennifer Jocz on 04 Feb 10
     
    Some major textbook publishers are adapting their textbooks and other resources for the iPad and other digital devices.
Ryan Brown

Michael Levine: Games: A Textbook for Digital Best Practices - 2 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...xtbook-for-digi_b_1285253.html

learning technology education engagement video games digital textbooks

shared by Ryan Brown on 02 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Kiran Patwardhan on 02 Mar 12
     
    Written with Alan Gershenfeld, Founder and President of E-Line Media The White House recently announced two major initiatives in learning and technology -- these "digital seed capital" efforts are "down-payments" to jumpstart innovation and break a two decade long cycle of snail-like reform.
  • Ryan Brown on 04 Mar 12
     
    While this article mostly discusses digital textbooks, there is a section devoted to "The Engagement Challenge" and how quality video games can make education more relevant to children.
Leslie Lieman

Digital Textbooks Go Straight From Scientists to Students - 4 views

www.wired.com/...flow-digital-textbooks

interactive technology education learning T545 T565 textbook textbooks science

shared by Leslie Lieman on 29 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • Leslie Lieman on 29 Jan 12
     
    An an interactive digital textbook powered by a student-created system called FLOW. "The Cachalot app, powered by FLOW, allows students to take notes, highlight text, tweet at content experts and perform Wolfram|Alpha searches without leaving the screen. (David Johnston/Cachalot)." Also interesting for T565ers about academic project turned down by publishing houses.
Chris McEnroe

Lighten that backpack: Obama administration challenges schools to embrace digital textb... - 1 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...gIQA0dKNiQ_story.html

shared by Chris McEnroe on 01 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Ryan Brown on 01 Feb 12
     
    Another article on digital textbooks. The author describes how students in Joplin, MO, went digital after the tornado destroyed their schools. Mixed results.
  • Chris McEnroe on 02 Feb 12
     
    With the Secretary calling for digital books, how does he envision teacher training programs to be transformed?
Jerald Cole

Obama wants schools to speed digital transition - 2 views

www.usatoday.com/...1

technology education ebooks change

shared by Jerald Cole on 09 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Jerald Cole on 09 Feb 12
     
    An ebook reader in every student's hand by 2017.
Jerald Cole

Balsamiq - 4 views

www.balsamiq.com

ebooks digital textbooks design tools prototyping mockup wireframe webdesign ui software

shared by Jerald Cole on 08 Mar 12 - Cached
  • Jerald Cole on 08 Mar 12
     
    This is a great tool for doing mock-ups of engaging user interfaces. The free version is more than adequate. We use it in a course on graphical user interface design at my university.
  • Kasthuri Gopalaratnam on 08 Mar 12
     
    Jerry, Thanks for sharing this resource. Coincidentally, my partner and I used this tool for generating a wireframe for a project in another course just two days back. I was not able to find a 'free' version on the website. There is a 7 day evaluation desktop version and a subscription based web version. I have a PC laptop. Is the free version available for Mac?
1 - 9 of 9
Showing 20▼ items per page